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Title: The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics) by Karl Raimund Popper ISBN: 0-415-27846-5 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 29 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Amazon reader
Comment: Do you have a deep down, hard to enunciate, disquiet with the level of debate in the broad area of social theory and "social engineering"? Do you feel that many of the claims and pronouncements made by social theorists (of any political disposition) are unjustified, but do not really know why you feel that way? If so, this book is a useful starting point for an examination of the problem.
In it, Popper develops the argument that "Historicism" (the term has more than one meaning in different contexts) as he defines it is a flawed approach, and that it is not a justifiable base for the sweeping claims of the historicist. To Popper, historicism is the concept that, by examination of history, we are able to define the rules that govern social change and hence are able to predict those changes. His initial impetus to look into this area was a critical evaluation of Marx - see his essay "How I became a philosopher without really trying" published in "All life is problem solving".
In its simplest form, Popper's argument is the observation that observation of the past does not allow one to accurately predict the future. This may seem to be a fairly obvious statement, but it is worth keeping in mind as he develops the various arguments that make up the case for and against historicism.
Popper's philosophy is often overlooked, perhaps because he attempts to limit himself to goals that he can reasonably achieve. He is a very prominent figure in the philosophy of science, and much of his epistemology relates to the methodology of the empirical sciences, and hence to direct observation, and the relationship of observation to development and testing of theories. Perhaps because he is not too ambitious, his philosophy is less "sexy". It is, however, eminently reasonable, and avoids many of the great stumbling blocks of traditional Western philosophy - for example, the problem of induction and infinite regress.
This book is non-technical, and is accessible to those with little formal philosophical training. It addresses the dominant paradigm in social engineering, and suggests why we may be unhappy with that paradigm.
Rating: 5
Summary: The fallacy of Utopian Engineering
Comment: Sir Popper is considered one of the most important thinkers in the area of philosophy of science. "The Poverty of Historicism" despite its complexity, carries a fundamental simple message: prediction over the course of history (its social and economic implications) is nothing more than a fantasy, an illusion. And this assertion is based on the principle that the events/persons responsible for changes are themselves affected by these same changes. It is Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty applied to social sciences!
Historicism is the theory that history develops itself according to pre-determined, inexorable laws with a fixed objective or end. Fascism and communism were laid upon these presuppositions, and the course fo history has proven the fallacy (therefore poverty) of such assumptions. The attempt to have a holistic approach by eliminating individual differences through "brain washing" is incompatible with critical thought, and although it will bring about a concentration of power it will also cause an erosion of knowledge. The Poverty of Historicism becomes a poverty of imagination, of the ability of critical judgement and analysis. Historicism, according to Karl Popper preposterously assumes the postion of having discovered the problem of "change," but revolutions are not unique to our modern era and the metaphysical speculation of what constitutes "change" has been addressed since the time of Heraclitus.
The goal of applying scientific methods with the same accuracy and predictability as those in theoretical physics is bound to end in failure when it concerns the course of history. The influence of the prediction upon the predicted events is here being termed as the "Oedipus effect." Physics can arrive at universally valid uniformities, whereas sociology must be contented with the intuitive understanding of unique events, and of the role they play in particular situations, occuring within particular struggles of interests, tendencies and destinies. If sociological laws determine the degree of anything, they will do so only in very vague terms, and will permit, at the best, a very rough scaling.
Karl Popper who was a fierce advocate of democrary and social critiscim, dedicated this book to all of those who have been victims to the fascist and communist belief in the inexorable laws of historical destiny.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Poverty of Anti-Historicism?
Comment: This classic little work is a must read for any theorist of history and evolution, which is not to say that one agrees altogether with Popper's formulation. Reflecting Popper's experience both with issues of scientific methodology and the ideologies of scientism, the work ends in a paradoxical mode with respect to the idea of a science of history and/or evolution. The invisible influence of the antinomies of Kantian critical thought buttress the basic argument, as it transforms the term 'historicism' itself from its nineteenth century usage into something different, in a confusion of terminology that does not invalidate the basic thrust. Popper's insight remains fundamental even if the implied usage directed at more rigid forms of Marxism narrows its scope. We live in an age that has reinvented the fallacy of (Popperian)historicism in the search for causal social theories of all types, and the results are always in the same difficulty that Popper points to. If a deterministic theory bent on predicting the future fails for the reasons Popper gives,the implication that there can be no genuine 'universal history' fails as a necessary consequence. For such a history might embrace rather than be contradicted by Popper's argument, leaving us to wonder if there is not also a certain poverty to 'anti-historicism' in the sense of throwing out the baby with the bath, i.e. finding history to be without meaning! In any case, a classic little work. The section on the "Oedipus Effect" invokes the tragic theme, with Popper as a sort of theoretical Tiresias, grizzled and omimous. Read.
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Title: Open Society and Its Enemies (Volume 1) by Karl R. Popper ISBN: 0691019681 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1971 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper ISBN: 0415278449 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 29 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge by Karl Raimund Popper, Karl Popper ISBN: 0415285941 Publisher: Routledge Classics Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn, Thomas S. Kuhn ISBN: 0226458083 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: All Life Is Problem Solving by Karl Popper ISBN: 0415249929 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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